Going green and seeing red

Wind turbines are being whipped up with big politics and even bigger problems in small towns across the country. What is generally pitched as an efficient, cost-effective and renewable power source is causing some communities ecological, health and industrial breakdowns to which energy corporations turn a blind eye.

How can turbines be fueled by greed and not green thinking?

This question and others are addressed in director Laura Israel’s documentary Windfall (2010), showing tomorrow evening at the Portland Art Museum.

The documentary opens with twangy, country music, which reminds us of hay rides and apple cider. Scenic shots of hometown Meredith, New York, flicker on the screen, and we hear the voices of citizens in protest and proclamation.

Wind companies, attracted to Meredith’s lack of zoning laws, begin prospecting the economically drooping Meredith and its people for contracts to construct 400-foot turbines. In a close-knit residential community, however, the turbines would have to be much closer to homes and businesses than usual.

The turbine’s presence soon splits the town in two, with large landowners and bureaucrats on one side and concerned citizens on the other. Meredith’s community begins experiencing dying bats, loud noise, political conflicts of interest and health issues ranging from fatigue to heart palpitations.

Windfall does not argue against renewable energy. It calmly presents examples of the dangers of under-planning and over-investment in a new energy source.

Israel’s film does not solidly take a position on the turbine issue. She does not use a narrator. We’re not told to feel anything in particular. Rather, we meet the town’s public figures and a small handful of community members and simply hear their stories, as if we’re tourists in Meredith with binoculars and a badly drawn map.

“It seemed like a small price to pay for the public good,” reasoned a Meredith homeowner who came to regret his decision to sign a contract that allowed wind turbines to be constructed on his land.

The town supervisor, Frank Bachelor, and other town board members saw turbines as a way to rejuvenate a slumping agricultural economy while helping to fight global warming.

The kicker—because of good neighbor/non-disclosure agreements that had to be signed with the allowance contracts, the majority of the town remained unaware that turbines were in their future until the machinery began pouring into nearby fields.

A central theme of the film surrounds the dynamics of community conflict and resolution in the face of politics and stacks of cash. Using black-and-white reel-to-reel clips and wrinkled photographs, Israel reveals the history of Meredith.

Thanks to the wind turbine conflict, some life-long friendships are dissolved, grudges are formed and politicians lose power. A man mourns the loss of his reputation, and a couple reveals how signing a contract turned them into social pariahs in the town they were born and raised in.

The film shifts from personal interviews to wobbly recordings of committee meetings as board members and outraged citizens go head-to-head in trying to get their needs met. The film contains much emotion, humor and the protest, but there is none of the maudlin outbursts of sympathy à la Michael Moore.

Windfall offers a few simple, but strong, solutions for effective energy savings by a newly elected town supervisor. Meredith succeeded in overturning a large turbine contract, and more and more citizens are involved in finding smaller scale projects that are not as ecologically or socially harmful.

“It seems like everyone thinks you’re crazy if you don’t go green,” said Meredith’s supervisor Keitha Capouya of the social stigma attached to rejecting turbines.

Supplemented with amusing cartoons about the mechanics of wind turbines, Windfall is a straightforward finger-wagger that redefines the way we think about political integrity and community ethics.